Protect Against Disease This Autumn

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Protect Against Disease This Autumn: Greenkeepers, groundsmen and amenity space managers should apply more than just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to their green areas this autumn, with magnesium and iron essential to maintaining healthy, disease free grass swards throughout the winter.

That is the latest advice from Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager for Germinal GB, who, ahead of the 30th October SALTEX show, recommends the application of specialist fertilisers to ensure grassed areas remain healthy as the weather turns cooler.

Protect Against Disease This Autumn

“No matter how naturally resistant a grass cultivar is to diseases such as fusarium, an unhealthy or nutrient deficient sward won’t be able to withstand the disease pressures associated with the onset of wetter and colder autumn conditions,” Mr Brown explains. “Greenkeepers, groundsmen and amenity space managers must therefore remember that feeding the sward goes beyond applying the main three macro-nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, and should apply additional micro-nutrients, namely magnesium and iron, to bolster tolerance to disease and cold conditions.”

Germinal’s specialist G13 Protekt and G14 Alleviate Fe fertilisers are formulated to provide the necessary nutrients to protect grass swards at crucial times such as during the onset of cooler autumn and winter conditions.

G13 ProteKt is a 3-0-22 (+3% Fe) anti-stress fertiliser. Containing 22% potash and 3% iron, it can be used during the autumn and winter to harden turf, heighten sward colour and prevent disease attack. Used at this time of year, G13 ProteKt enhances wear tolerance, protects the sward from frost damage and enables quicker recovery in the subsequent spring.

G13 ProteKt can also be applied in the spring and summer when its high potassium content aids transpiration control in dry periods and fortifies the drought tolerance of grass plants.

G14 Alleviate Fe is a 4-0-10 (+8% Fe) fertiliser which is ideal for protecting high value turf areas such as sports fields, golf greens and tees and bowling greens throughout the growing season, but especially during the autumn and winter months. G14 Alleviate Fe contains magnesium, a vital component of chlorophyll, which helps to maintain good metabolism of energy for healthy plant growth. Its high iron content improves resistance to disease and ensures quick greening throughout the growing season without causing any intense flushes of growth. G14 Alleviate Fe also helps to control and inhibit moss.

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The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX

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The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX: Turfix, The Pitchmark Group subsidiary formed at the beginning of 2019, will be exhibiting at Saltex this year with the latest products and developments.

Turfix acts as Pitchmark’s UK distribution arm, offering premium pitch solutions to the professional sports turf sector. The service includes bespoke advice, education and supply of a wide range of innovative products. Turfix has grown out of very good relationships with other manufacturers and over thirty years’ experience in the horticultural and amenity sector. Comprising a highly experienced team with years of knowledge, the business has expanded throughout the year.

The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX

The Turfix Services’ GPS marking division has seen new operators in the North and South coming on board during the Easter and summer periods. Over 300 pitches and tracks have been marked by the team since July alone. Martin Samuel has joined as Regional Account Manager for the South West.

“Turfix represents true quality of service.” says Mark Rodman, The Pitchmark Group’s Chairman. “We have created a facility which allows our people to spend more time with groundsmen and help tailor solutions specifically to their requirements.” Each account manager has been a groundsman or greenkeeper in their career, lending weight to a unique level of understanding. Fully complementing the exception level of service is the supply of a wide range of products.

The latest is the new British product, Block Blitz, a paving treatment with a real difference. It’s described as the UK’s first block paving specific treatment, designed to clean and protect paving without the need for scrubbing, jetwashing or sealing. Block Blitz joins the wide range of Turfix distributed products including Pitchmark, ICL, Syngenta, Harrod Sport and Tildenet Sport.

Turfix supplied a range of products to Parc des Princes stadium for their FIFA Women’s World Cup games and Pitchmark supplied all stadia at FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 and Euro 2016 France.  Pitchmark paint was also used to mark the pitch at the Principality Stadium for the Champions League Final 2017.

Turfix is on Stand No. E125 at Saltex

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It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

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It’s Always Terrain When It Pours: Enable Leisure and Culture (ELC) is a registered charity, contracted by Wandsworth Council to manage and develop the council’s parks, commons and playgrounds. Working in conjunction with sub-contractors such as idverde.

ELC takes responsibility for monitoring the grounds maintenance across a total of 200 sites. Enable also advises Wandsworth Council on its responsibilities with respect to legislation relating to biodiversity and best practice in the ecological maintenance of parks. Among the sites under their watchful eye are the sports pitches, of which there are 95 football pitches, 10 cricket squares, bowling greens and running tracks.

It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

“A lot of the sites are on made up ground and experience major problems with drainage,” says Andrew Green, Enable’s Parks Officer, Sports Provisions. “We have carried out aeration down to 300mm but it’s not enough to get to the pans.”

Andrew called on the services of Terrain Aeration whom he has used for around 20 years to deal with waterlogging problems, most recently for Tooting Common, with its six senior football pitches which became waterlogged in the winter season; along with Garratt Park and Fishponds Playing Fields. Terrain Aeration’s Terralift was brought in to apply deep penetration aeration to relieve the problem. The machine uses a JCB road breaker hammer to drive a hollow probe one metre into the soil. This is needed, especially on made up ground, because it is usually so compact at depth it requires the hammer to get through. Once the probe reaches the optimum depth, compressed air is released up to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This blast fractures the compacted soil to allow drainage and deep aeration.

It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

The probe is withdrawn and, in the case of the work for Wandsworth, the process repeated using one and a half metre spacings on a staggered grid pattern. This means each shot interconnects the fissures. On the tail end of the blast, dried seaweed is injected which sticks to the walls of the fractures and fissures. Over time, this expands and contracts with the moisture content in the soil to effectively keep the ground drained. At Wandsworth the 1½” probe holes created by the Terralift machine were backfilled with Lytag aggregate to provide a semi-permanent aeration/ventilation shaft, helping to keep the whole aeration process working. Put simply, Andy Green says: “We wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work. We find the Terrain Aeration process is a cost-effective solution, without the need to dig up pitches and lay drainage.

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Berry Big Ambitions

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Berry Big Ambitions: When Craig Berry left school, his love of golf led him to study for a National Certificate in Greenkeeping at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

Nearly two decades on, he is living the dream, working as the Old Course Supervisor for the St Andrews Links Trust and managing 22 members of staff.

Berry Big Ambitions

However, he has one more ambition to fulfil – that of overseeing an Open Championship.

“That is without a doubt my ultimate dream,” said father-of-two Craig.

While studying at SRUC’s Elmwood campus, which boasts its own 18-hole golf course, Craig undertook placements at Lundin Golf Club.

He then completed an apprenticeship at Lundin Golf Club and continued his education at Elmwood through block release, gaining Levels 2 and 3 in Sports Turf Maintenance.

In 2011, he began working at Leven Links Golf course, moving to the St Andrews Links Trust Old Course three years later.

Craig rounded off his Elmwood education by completing an HNC in Golf Course Management via distance learning, and was awarded an R&A Greenkeeping Scholarship.

“Not only did the scholarship provide funding and support, but it gave me the chance to visit Askernish Golf Course, which is just stunning,” he said. “R&A support also helped me network, refine my professional skills and attend future golf managers’ course development.”

In 2018, Craig was appointed to his current position as Old Course Supervisor at the oldest and most iconic golf course in the world.

“It is a great place,” he said.  “It’s like second nature to me.”

Craig, who has built up more than 18 years’ experience in the industry, puts his achievements down to two things.

“Never get ahead of yourself; you need other people’s knowledge. And secondly, let your work do the talking.

“Every day is a different day. There is the pressure to always be better than yesterday.  I have a hunger for it and I use that to motivate my team.

“The high expectations on a top end golf course are always top of the agenda for the old course squad. The pressures of delivering a golf course to an Open Championship standard daily, has its difficulties, but with the experience and enthusiasm of the Old Course squad, we are able to deliver and achieve this standard.

My main aim going forward is to keep a high level of communication throughout the squad and provide consistent training, something which I have benefitted from and I see as an integral part of this industry.”

SRUC Elmwood offers Greenkeeping and Golf Course Management courses. For more information visit www.sruc.ac.uk/golf

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True Grit At SALTEX

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True Grit At SALTEX: Wessex International have chosen Saltex as the venue for the launch of PolarOne, their new range of professional salt and grit spreaders for winter maintenance.  

Built in the UK to take on the harshest winter conditions, the spreader is constructed using stainless steel components and fixings together with powder coating for anti-corrosion longevity. Durability and weight saving are also the thinking behind the self-supporting design of the polypropylene hopper and integral liquid brine tank. PolarOne can be trailer or vehicle-mounted. There are two models, the WS-900 (900L) and WS-1200 (1200L) and each has three options.

True Grit At SALTEX

Model ST is a manually operated machine for those who just want a basic spreader, no speed control or data logging. Model GT has all the functions of the standard machine but with the addition of GPS speed control. The system monitors changes in forward speed and spread widths to ensure precise application and minimal material wastage, for increased profitability. The Commander has all the above with the addition of full telematics to remotely monitor the salt spreader back at base. The set- up would have access to a real-time webpage and opens up a variety of additional facilities such as route logging, reporting and ring-fencing for fleet and productivity management. The PolarFlo vibration system is a patented auto vibration control to manage consistent material flow, which is totally new and unique to the industry. The spreader is suited to a wide variety of vehicles with its adjustable spinner height coupled with a convenient fold up feature. The spread direction is easily adjusted to bias from left to right by moving the feed chute position and there’s a safety emergency stop. PolarOne’s extended auger design allows better weight distribution in the host vehicle and the large diameter auger, with delivery tunnel, manages the spreading of a large range of materials without blockages or leakage.

Wessex have achieved a unique, low maintenance design with the PolarOne spreader using no engines, belts, chains or grease points.  The in-cab digital controller, with GPS connectivity, will adjust material delivery according to your vehicle speeds to maintain a consistent application rate. A speed optimisation indicator will help you optimise your driving speeds to improve the accuracy of spreading and productivity of your equipment and reduce material wastage. There’s a wide range of optional extras and plans to introduce pre-wet and spray bar options. Brine will be available in 2020.  Wessex will also display their ProLine range of commercial mowers and turf machinery at the show.  See the PolarOne spreader and latest ProLine on the Wessex International stand number K060 at Saltex.

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